Shea Stadium

ST. LOUIS - When the New York Mets left Busch Stadium on Thursday night, they carried away everything but a mathematical guarantee they will represent the National League in the World Series. They have all the momentum after winning the first two games of the best-of-seven NL Championship Series on the road. They have a decided home-field advantage at Shea Stadium, where they tied for the best home record in baseball (55-26) and won two tough games in their Division Series against the San Francisco Giants.

By Peter Schmuck and Peter Schmuck,peter.schmuck@baltsun.com | September 28, 2008

N ews item: The New York Mets and their fans will bid farewell today to Shea Stadium, no doubt to somewhat less fanfare than accompanied the final game at Yankee Stadium last weekend. My take: It's hard to get too nostalgic for Shea, which is the last of the cookie-cutter, multi-use major league stadiums built during the 1960s. The new ballpark will still be under the flight path of LaGuardia Airport, so Mets fans will be able to close their eyes and remember how uncomfortable they used to be. News item: The Orioles close out their 11th consecutive losing season today at Camden Yards and finish in last place for the first time since they posted their worst-ever record in 1988.

Who's hot Karim Garcia of the Indians is 10-for-22 with three homers and 12 RBIs in six games against Tampa Bay. Who's not The Mets have lost eight in a row at Shea Stadium, their worst streak since August 1980. Line of the day Bernie Williams, Yanks CF AB R H RBI HR 5 1 5 0 0

By dan connolly and dan connolly,dan.connolly@baltsun.com | September 7, 2008

Baseball has made it to September, finally the stretch run, with plenty of teams still dreaming of the postseason. By my calculation, 11 clubs have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs. That's not counting the New York Yankees, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals or Houston Astros. Things would have to break perfectly for any of them. Then again, I didn't believe in the Colorado Rockies this time last year and then found myself in Denver in late October. But, as Big Mac said, we're not here to talk about the past.

Quote: "I wonder if we're allowed to stay. I'm not sure; I might have to buy a ticket." -- David Cone, on hearing that the Yankees will precede the Mets today at Shea Stadium.It's a fact: Reliever Dennis Eckersley, 43, is the oldest pitcher in Red Sox history.Who's hot: The Mariners' Joey Cora has a 13-game hitting streak.Who's not: Mariners relievers are 0-3 with an 8.31 ERA.On deck: Because of the Mets game tonight, a curfew will be set for the Yankees and Angels, with the exact time to be determined shortly before game time.

NEW YORK -- As the ball sailed through the night and over the left-field fence, a hush came over Shea Stadium. After seven months of baseball ecstasy, it was about the end. The New York Mets, the team that won 10 of its first 12 and ran away from the rest of the National League, were watching their season end. World Series Game 1 Cardinals@Tigers, tomorrow, 8:03 p.m., chs. 45, 5

NEW YORK -- It was supposed to be a new product. The New York Mets put fresh faces on the field, and they put fresh paint on the walls, and they hoped that on this Opening Day at Shea Stadium things would look appealing and different and people would get excited about 1994.Somehow, though, it ended up looking like 1993. After a promising road trip to open the season, the Mets returned home to Shea Stadium yesterday and found themselves hearing the all too familiar boos from the home crowd by the time the game reached the third inning.

Quote: "I didn't feel real good at the plate. But this is my first time seeing most of these pitchers. I'm playing against guys I've seen only on video games." -- Pirates rookie Warren Morris, who's hitting .275It's a fact: The game in Miami drew a holiday crowd of 21,943, well below the Cardinals' road average of 33,634.Who's hot: Reds relievers are holding opponents to a .203 average and have an 0.82 ERA in their past eight games, a span of 33 innings.Who's not: The Mets' Al Leiter has given up 10 home runs, one more than all last year.

WASHINGTON -- The labor dispute between Major League Baseball and the Major League Umpires Association remained unresolved yesterday, which means that amateur umpires probably will staff today's season opener between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox at Memorial Stadium.The umpires walked out on the final two days of exhibition games after negotiations on a new labor agreement ground to ' 'TC halt. Union director Richie Phillips says the owners are preparing for a lockout. MLB negotiator Richard Kheel is calling it a strike by the umpires.

The New York Mets have fallen asleep, dead asleep. They wake up for a few minutes at the end of each game to remind us that it's a long season, plenty of baseball left, relax, don't worry. The next time we see them they're back on the ballfield, snoring.Shea Stadium -- where the Mets play the Pirates today -- hasn't been this quiet, this tame, in about a decade. This is the worst part of it: The fans are being put to sleep, too.The notion that the Mets have lots of time to straighten themselves out is probably accurate, and downright foolish.

NEW YORK-- --It is hard to imagine a baseball world without Yankee Stadium, but the clock is running down on the House that Ruth Built, and its fabled concourses will go dark after next season. There will be a new Yankee Stadium, of course, with wall-to-wall JumboTrons and fancy luxury boxes, and it will improve on the old one in all the ways we care about these days. More comfortable. More accessible. More revenue. It'll be in New York, so it will be the best and the brightest, even if it isn't, and it will be another giant step toward the total gentrification of baseball.

NEW YORK -- As the ball sailed through the night and over the left-field fence, a hush came over Shea Stadium. After seven months of baseball ecstasy, it was about the end. The New York Mets, the team that won 10 of its first 12 and ran away from the rest of the National League, were watching their season end. World Series Game 1 Cardinals@Tigers, tomorrow, 8:03 p.m., chs. 45, 5

It's a fact The Indians finished 38-43 at home, their worst home record since going 35-46 at Cleveland Stadium in 1987. Milestone The Giants will finish ahead of the Dodgers for the seventh straight year, their longest such streak since 1921-31. The number 536: Days between Pirates' visits to Shea Stadium (April 2002-September 2003).

Baseball mourns The stunning death of 33-year-old pitcher Darryl Kile on June 22 cast a pail over a St. Louis Cardinals organization that had lost longtime broadcaster Jack Buck to cancer only days before. The team postponed its June 22 game against the Chicago Cubs but resumed play the next night at Wrigley Field. Kite, who apparently died of congenital heait disease, was the first active major-league player to pass away during the season since Yankees catcher Thurman Munson died in a plane crash In 1979.

If New York Mets fans had their way, near-certain Hall of Famer Roger Clemens would have a bull's eye painted on his batting helmet when he strides to home plate in his long-awaited interleague start today at Shea Stadium. Can you blame them? "The Rocket" has been Public Enemy No. 1 in Queens since he - some say intentionally - bounced a 95-mph fastball off the head of superstar Mike Piazza in an interleague game nearly two years ago. Clemens didn't make any more friends when he picked up a piece of Piazza's broken bat in the 2000 World Series and flung it back in the direction of the popular Mets catcher.

NEW YORK - One game away from winning their third consecutive World Series title, the New York Yankees had lots of incentive for wanting to close it out last night. Though it didn't rank highly on the list, they couldn't have been looking forward to two more days of hype surrounding another Roger Clemens start. The furor over the Clemens bat-throwing incident with New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza mostly had dissipated, but it surely would heat up again if the series extended to Game 6 at Yankee Stadium.